Concordance Between Parent Inventory and Directly Observed Measures of Attachment*

Abstract

This study was a further development of a parent inventory measure of attachment for young children. Observed child reunion behaviors, based on prior research, were transformed into a twenty item parent inventory format Maternal inventory responses for 233 low income, five year old children were factor analyzed and the obtained factors were compared with previous categories based upon direct observation. Factor analysis yielded a six factor solution. Sixteen of the twenty behaviors could be classified into previously established categories of attachment. The advantages of the use of the measure in naturalistic settings, for large sample and multiple attachment figure comparisons, and reduced data collection time were discussed. *This research was supported, in part, by a grant from the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, Head Start, 98600.91‐3 to the Head Start School Transition Demonstration Evaluation Project.